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iOS 7: Apple unveils new Safari for iPhone and iTunes Radio to take on Spotify

Apple has officially taken the wraps off the newest edition of its iOS operating system, debuting a redesigned Safari browser and its long-rumoured music streaming service.

At its WWDC keynote last night, the Cupertino-based giant gave us our first peek at the new Safari browser for iOS 7, which features an near full screen interface with a completely plain, white background that gives the browser a visibly cleaner and smarter appearance.

The address bar and the search box have been combined into one as a ‘smart search field’, much like the OmniBox in Chrome. Tapping this also gives users access to their favourites and previous search URLs.

The Tab View page has been overhauled to display open pages in a vertical column of large thumbnails and you can now swipe to close tabs. The navigation buttons at the bottom have also been revamped in keeping with the operating system’s minimalist look and feel.

Apple also finally raised the curtain on its much-hyped music streaming service, iTunes Radio. Similar to the likes of Pandora, Last.fm and Spotify, this lets you enjoy music from the biggest labels for free, but will feature ads, which you can remove by subscribing to iTunes Match.

Currently the service has only been announced for the US but we certainly expect it to roll out in the UK and Europe once iOS 7 lands this autumn.

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